Badlands News Brief
Islamic Reruns, Fortune 500 Cartels, & The 119th Speaker
The News Cycle is almost impossible to track these days. At least, to do so fully.
That’s where we come in.
In the Badlands News Brief, the Badlands Media team hand pick news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community with some Badlands flavoring to help wash it down.
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Now, onto the news from Thursday, January 2nd …
Tune in at Noon Eastern for Badlands Media Special Coverage of the 119th House Speaker Vote
Mike Johnson Gets Public GOP Senate Support Ahead of Tight House Speaker Vote
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., received public support from Republicans in the Senate as he faces an uncertain vote Friday to determine whether he will maintain the role in the new Congress.
"My friend [Johnson] has done an incredible job in the House, and I’m glad he’s at the helm there as Congress looks forward to growing our economy and safeguarding our communities in the new year," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on X.
Johnson also got the backing of the other member of Louisiana's Senate delegation, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. "I agree with President Trump that [Johnson] is the right man to lead. He’s a committed conservative and a man of integrity," he wrote on X, referencing President-elect Donald Trump's recent endorsement.
During the last-minute government-spending fight last month, most Republican senators were careful not to call for Johnson's replacement. However, that didn't stop others, such as Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, from suggesting that someone else would do a better job.
"Technically, the rules of the House—I don't think you have to be a member of the House to be speaker. And other people talked about it," Paul told reporters in December. — Fox News
AND
All Democrats Expected to Participate in Speaker’s Vote
All Democrats are expected to be in the Capitol on Friday for the vote to seat the next Speaker of the House, according to the Democratic whip’s office.
The full participation of Democrats is significant, given the razor-thin margins in the lower chamber and the threat from some conservative Republicans to oppose the bid by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), the current Speaker, to keep his gavel in the 119th Congress.
Already, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is vowing to vote for someone other than Johnson on the floor on Friday, which means one more GOP defection would deny Johnson the simple majority of voting members needed to secure the Speakership — if all Democrats are on the floor and voting for their Speaker preference: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
If even one Democrat is absent, Johnson can afford two GOP defections and still win the gavel. — The Hill
Our Take: I expect this to go the same way Johnson’s last Speaker vote went; that is, I expect Johnson to be elected Speaker on the first round of voting, on a straight party line.
While there are dissenters, like Thomas Massie (R-KY), shouting about Johnson, there does not appear to be sufficient coordinated opposition, as Matt Gaetz (R-FL) had when taking on McCarthy in 2023. I don’t see Massie & Co working with democrats, playing the margin, and pulling off a Speaker vote upset.
Regardless of the final tally, Johnson is Trump’s stated choice and will likely be the Speaker of the House in the 119th Congress. The vote is today at noon eastern, tune in on Badlands Media (link above). —
Why A US Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Is Critical To Fending Off China
Finance is increasingly a weapon of war. United States policymakers and our allies focus too narrowly on macroeconomic tools like sanctions and promoting the dollar as a reserve currency when the modern front is evolving. Today, the real battles are being waged on smartphones and in the global currency markets.
China is waging a multi-decade plan to displace the United States' greatest asset: the dollar. The dollar is critical to the United States' economic and geopolitical power as the global reserve currency. Without it, our influence would weaken, and our debt would become a bigger problem. This is precisely what the Chinese Communist Party and the Kremlin want.
China and Russia have shed billions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasury holdings while growing their stockpiles of gold. Our sanctions, designed to separate countries from the "Western" economic system, are no longer enough of a deterrent for those who can control financial activity within their borders and project their power outward.
Authoritarian adversaries — including China, Iran and Russia — are actively building parallel cross-border economic systems that will pull into their orbits not only neighboring countries but also our allies who trade heavily with them. — CoinDesk
Our Take: “MAX KEISER: ‘They’re dumping their US treasury bonds, they’re dumping whatever they can and they’re putting it into Bitcoin… we’re gonna see #Bitcoin be the major winner in this sovereign dept collapse, globally. That’s how you get to 200…300…$400,000 per BTC.’”
The central bank that prints money first to buy Bitcoin wins. Bitcoin = Bitpower = National stockpile. —
Here’s Who Biden’s FBI Decided To Persecute Rather Than Hunt Down Real Terrorists
Early Wednesday morning, a radical Islamic terrorist drove his truck through a crowd of people celebrating the start of the New Year in New Orleans. Fifteen people were murdered and more than 35 injured.
But maybe this tragedy could have been avoided if the FBI spent less time targeting parents, Catholics, and countless other dissidents and instead focused its resources on catching actual terrorists…
Unfortunately under the leadership of then FBI Director Christopher Wray, the FBI was too busy doing things like helping to orchestrate a kidnapping plot targeting Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to catch a terrorist.
— The Federalist
Our Take: The list of targeted groups from The Federalist is simple: Catholics, Trump Supporters, Parents at School Board Meetings, Pro-Lifers, and Grandmas. Their list is also safe and incomplete.
What about Election Deniers? Nationalists? Foreign Policy Critics?
The answer to the question, “Who did Biden’s FBI Decide To Persecute Rather Than Hunt Down Real Terrorists?” is actually simple. Enemies of globalism.
The great reset to the new world order is the goal of the global communists. The global communists’ FBI was way too focused on hunting the enemies of global communism to hunt down the real terrorists.
Also, the global communists have been the real terrorists all along.
—
Mosque Attended by New Orleans Terrorist Refers FBI Inquiries to CAIR
The mosque reportedly attended by New Orleans terrorist Shamsud Din Jabbar urged members to refer inquiries from the FBI to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of Greater Houston.
More than a dozen were killed and dozens wounded in the terror attack in the early hours of New Year’s Day on Bourbon Street, in which Jabbar drove a truck with an ISIS flag into a crowd of revelers. Newsweek reported:
A mosque near the Houston home of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who police say carried out the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, has urged its congregation not to respond to media inquiries and to refer to other Islamic organizations if contacted by the FBI.
In an Instagram story posted after the attacker’s identity was announced, the Masjid Bilal condemned what it said were “terrible acts.” It added, “If approached by the FBI and a response is necessary, please refer to CAIR and ISGH,” referring to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of Greater Houston.
CAIR is a radical organization that has provided assistance to terrorists’ families in the past… in 2015, the local branch of CAIR provided help to the families of the ISIS-affiliated terrorists who carried out a mass shooting against San Bernardino county employees (their colleagues) during a Christmas holiday party. — Breitbart
Our Take: Oh, look guys, an NGO that is being accused of being a terrorist organization. (Here is my shocked face.) Obviously, we are being psyop'd into another round of "let's go to the Middle East and kill Mooslums!" Most likely brought to you by the CIA and Mossad.
The problem is that, this time, they are getting sloppy. Like really sloppy. For starters, most of X has already figured out that the jihadi terrorist was flying his ISIS flag upside down — meaning he either doesn't know how to read Arabic, or the intelligence operatives in the MSM/law enforcement who were responsible for staging the scene weren't very well trained.
Note how the flag is attached to the flag pole/carrier in that picture. It's upside down. The ISIS flag is suppose to oriented like this:
Then you have this odd MSM report about the guy's house, where they found "bomb-making materials next to a Quran opened up to a passage about martyrdom."
Really, guys? Not going for subtlety this time, huh? And I guess we aren't closing off the crime scene to run forensics? Just letting some chick in yoga pants strut through like she owns the place? Because getting the story out to the public ASAP is the most important thing here, amirite?
Oh, and our friend, L (SomeBitchIIKnow) pointed out the background of the reporter, according to her own bio on X.
I must say that I am finding all of this ridiculously absurd.
Accelerate.
P.S. Boss just came in from the top rope. —
New Orleans Attacker Acted Alone, FBI Says
FBI officials said they believe Shamsud-Din Jabbar acted alone in New Orleans in what they described as a terror attack inspired by ISIS.
“Let me be very clear about this point, this was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act,” Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, said Thursday.
“We do not assess at this point … that anyone else is involved in this attack,” he said, adding later that the FBI was confident there were “no accomplices” involved in the attack.
That’s a departure from FBI warnings yesterday, when the agency said Jabbar may not have acted alone. Officials said they’d uncovered significant new developments about the attack… Raia said Jabbar posted several videos prior to carrying out the attack, professing support for the terror group ISIS.
— The Hill
Our Take: How can patriots be in control if such attacks are 'allowed' to occur?
Well, mileage varies, but everything from the Q Drops to Trump himself have stated many times that the enemy is not going to go down without a fight; that said, the fact that they're resorting to such obvious means at national subversion and literal terror is itself telling as to the position they currently find themselves in on the game board: hemmed in and boxed out.
So, HOW is the Bourbon St attack merging narrative layers? It's followed up by an absurd (and absurdly memetic) 'attack' using a Tesla Cybertruck parked outside of a Trump Tower, and this comes directly on the heels of a massive media attempt to split Trump and Elon Musk optically, after they predicted that very attempt.
All of this is to say, you don't need to know WHAT is happening on an Actual level in order to observe confidently that the Collective American Mind is paying attention to the threads that bind the Narratives. —
After Helping Trump Win, Elon Musk is Becoming a Political Force in Europe
Having tapped his vast personal wealth and marshaled his 210 million followers on X to help propel Donald Trump to election victory in November, Elon Musk has turned his gaze to European politics.
In a post on X late Wednesday, Musk called for the release of Tommy Robinson, a British far-right agitator, saying he was in jail for "telling the truth." Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was jailed last year for breaching a court order not to repeat false claims about a refugee from Syria. Robinson had been successfully sued for defamation over the claims.
Musk then posted that Britain should have an election — the most recent one took place in July — and claimed its government was reluctant to hold an inquiry into child sexual exploitation to protect the prime minister, Keir Starmer.
[…]
Musk has also spoken fondly of Italy's right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. In September, he called her a "precious genius" who was "even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside."
Meloni leads the Brothers of Italy party — which has roots in the post-World War II neo-fascist Italian Social Movement. She came to power in 2022, standing on a platform of lower immigration, tighter border control, and traditional values. At the time, she was described as Italy's most right-wing leader since Benito Mussolini. – Business Insider
Our Take: Here's an interesting storyline that got my autism activated.
Two weeks ago, various corporate outlets were mocking President Trump for being the "third wheel" to Elon Musk and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, after Meloni defended her friendship with Elon during an address to Parliament, and a photo went viral of her and Elon staring into each other's eyes.
The week before, Trump said, ‘She’s a fantastic leader and person,’ and vowed to work with her when he returned to office. In fact, Trump spent the entire month of December gushing over her in various interviews Truth Social posts — all of which has captured the attention of the media.
Meloni made a public statement right before Christmas that "We (Europe) must be friends with Donald Trump." (BASED)
Now they are saying that Meloni may be the most powerful leader in Europe, the day before it is reported that she has succeeded in blocking 200,000 Africans from illegally entering the continent through Italy.
A story that went largely unnoticed — though was actually pretty widely reported — broke back on November 1st, revealing that four people in Milan had been arrested for trying to hack Italian government servers. According to reports, a company called Equalize, which employs former Italian intelligence operatives, was caught trying to collect blackmail material on Italian officials, as well as an unidentified "right-hand man" of Vladimir Putin, among other Russian officials.
According to various outlets (not just MSM) the Vatican was intended to play middleman, and Mossad was offering, in exchange, blackmail material on Qatar, Iran, and Italian gas companies.
From Politico:
Italian intelligence firm Equalize, which allegedly hacked information on thousands of people including politicians, entrepreneurs, athletes and even musicians, is accused of working for Israeli intelligence and the Vatican, police wiretaps leaked to Italian media show.
Members of the hacking network, including Nunzio Samuele Calamucci — the man prosecutors accuse of orchestrating the scheme — met with two Israeli agents at the firm's office in Milan in February 2023 to discuss a task worth €1 million, according to the leaked wiretaps.
The job was a cyber operation against Russian targets, including President Vladimir Putin's unidentified "right-hand man," and unearthing the financial trail leading from the bank accounts of wealthy figures to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. The information was then supposed to be passed on to the Vatican.
So why would Mossad be after compromising blackmail on Putin and his inner circle?
Perhaps because the Israeli government has a vested interest in seeing Putin/Russia either disgraced or lose their war against Ukraine?
In any event, it would seem that Giorgia Meloni is our gal, and being gamed by Mossad for blackmail material. –
Drug Cartels Have Become Mexico’s 5th-Largest Employer
Some 175,000 people now actively work for Mexico's smuggling cartels, according to a shocking new estimate that would make them the country’s fifth-largest private employer.
The cartels’ secret is their viciously efficient ability to recruit, said Rafael Prieto-Curiel, who led the researchers and who said the cartels are the country’s top recruiter at more than 350 new people each week. That helps them counter their massive losses thanks to arrests, killings and dropouts.
“Cartels, they need to have roughly 175,000 members. They cannot be much smaller because they would have collapsed. They cannot be much bigger because they would have grown so fast,” Mr. Prieto-Curiel said. “So they have to be roughly 175,000 members, which means roughly, just to put it into context, the fifth-largest employer in the country.”
He and his fellow researchers used computer models to peer into the country’s notoriously secretive cartels, running millions of permutations on the 150 different cartels, evaluating their recruiting and losses to arrests, killings and dropouts.
He called recruiting the “secret of the success of a cartel.” — Washington Times
AND
Democrats Brace for Mass Deportations in Sanctuary Cities
Democrat-run cities and states are experiencing growing uncertainty over how effective sanctuary policies, designed to combat deportations of undocumented immigrants, will be under President-elect Donald Trump's new administration, party insiders have told Newsweek.
One Democratic Party donor, who supports those vulnerable to federal immigration policies, shared unease within Democratic circles that sanctuary cities, where local governments limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, could be targeted.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the Democrat from California, meanwhile, suggested local law enforcement's lack of desire to look for undocumented immigrants could be more influential in stemming deportations than sanctuary cities' rules.
Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican from Louisiana, who has proposed legislation to prevent sanctuary states from offering Medicaid coverage to undocumented immigrants vowed:
"We will close the border." — Newsweek
Our Take: The reality of sanctuary cities in 2025 is that the people — the actual citizens — are done. Blue city leaders created a new, separate class of residents and then exempted them from criminal liability while subsidizing their lives. The people have had enough, and fear of being called racist is no longer keeping them quiet.
I’ve watched this happen here in Denver, where city leaders began with the empathy play — “migrants are our strength” and “this is who we are” nonsense. Then came home invasions, jewelry store and gun shop thefts, stolen cars. Then came the apartment complex takeovers, kidnappings, and tortures — an Aurora resident recently had her fingernails pulled out by TdA kidnappers.
Now, democrat politicians are agreeing that we need to deport the criminals – a big improvement from just three months ago. The people’s vocal opposition is something politicians cannot ignore forever, even in communist Colorado.
January 20 — and its coming accountability — can’t come quickly enough. It’s only 17 sleeps away now, and I hope Tom Homan was serious about putting officials into prison if they obstruct the removal of criminals from our streets.
—
Palestinian Authority Blocks Al Jazeera
The Al Jazeera news network has been temporarily banned from operating in the West Bank by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which claims that the broadcaster has played a role in inciting unrest and “stirring strife” there.
The decision was reported on Wednesday by the Palestinian news agency WAFA, which cited the PA’s culture, interior, and communications ministries as saying that the Qatar-based network’s coverage had “deceived” and “incited division” among its audience in reporting on recent clashes in Jenin refugee camp.
In December, Al Jazeera reported a raid by PA forces against a splinter group called Jenin Brigades fighters. Established in 1953, the Jenin refugee camp offered shelter to Palestinians who fled or were expelled by the Israelis from their homes and has since become known as a stronghold of resistance to Israel. According to various estimates, it houses between 11,000 and 22,000 people.
The Al Jazeera ban is said to be temporary, although no end date was announced. — RT
Our Take: This is a story that requires a bit of nuance to discern and understand.
On the surface, this is easy to write off as an act of authoritarian — perhaps Islamic authoritarianism (gasp!) — but let's look a bit deeper.
Al-Jazeera was first launched on November 1, 1996 by the ruling family of Qatar — the House of Thani (purported to be direct descendants of Ishmael, the first son of Abraham) — immediately following the Saudi government's decision to close down the BBC Arabic station, in order to thwart the release of a documentary about Shariah Law. Al-Jazeera hired the former BBC Arabic staff to run the organization, originally offering six hours of programming daily, which eventually grew into a 24-hour broadcast in 1999. After 9/11, there was a surging demand for an English-version of the broadcast, and a few short years later, Al-Jazeera had several English shows, websites, and offices in places like London. The stated goal of the English-language website was to "connect with Western audiences," cooperating closely with the BBC.
During the Arab Spring of 2011, Al-Jazeera played a critical role in gaslighting the Arab public into believing that a true populist revolution was underway — when, in fact, it was actually an Operation Gladio-style color revolution being led by the Muslim Brotherhood (British Intelligence, NATO and, likely, Mossad).
When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman initiated his embargo of Qatar in 2017, in coordination with President Trump and his other Arab partners, Al-Jazeera was banned in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt, for the same reasons it is now being banned in Palestine. It was also banned in Israel last year for the same stated reason:
That it was trying to incite violence with misinformation.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are cornerstones of the American society, but this isn't America doing this; this is Palestine. And right now that place is fighting for its life while it is being inundated with psychological warfare operations that are designed to destabilize their society and push the Palestinian people to escalate conflict with Israel.
I am grateful that I am not the one who has to make the impossible decision on how to manage this situation. —
BONUS ITEMS
AI Needs So Much Power, It’s Making Yours Worse
AI data centers are multiplying across the US and sucking up huge amounts of power. New evidence shows they may also be distorting the normal flow of electricity for millions of Americans. This map shows readings from about 770,000 home sensors, with red zones indicating areas with the most distorted power.
The problem is threatening billions in damage to home appliances and aging power equipment, especially in areas like Chicago and "data center alley" in Northern Virginia, where distorted power readings are above recommended levels.
An exclusive Bloomberg analysis shows that more than three-quarters of highly-distorted power readings across the country are within 50 miles of significant data center activity… this trend holds true in rural areas as well.
— Bloomberg
Joe Biden to Award Liz Cheney Presidential Citizens Medal as She Braces for Potential FBI Probe
President Joe Biden will award Liz Cheney and 19 others the Presidential Citizens Medal for purportedly performing “exemplary deeds of service for their country or fellow Americans,” the Washington Post reported Thursday.
The award comes while former Rep. Cheney (R-WY), the vice chair and a key member of the partisan January 6 Committee, braces for a potential FBI probe after House Republicans demanded the Bureau investigate her for allegedly tampering with “at least one” witness of the partisan panel.
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of the FBI, Kash Patel, has not signaled whether he is open to investigating the former congresswoman. Patel was an ardent defender of the rule of law during his illustrious career in government.
Cheney says she should not go to jail for alleged wrongdoing during her tenure on the committee. A majority (57 percent) of likely voters support an FBI investigation of Cheney, a recent Rasmussen Reports poll found.
— Breitbart
Court Upholds $7.8 Million Verdict For Transit Workers Fired For Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine
A federal judge in California has rejected an effort by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to overturn a jury verdict that awarded $7.8 million to six former employees who were fired for refusing to comply with the agency’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds.
In a Dec. 30 order, Judge William A. Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California acknowledged minor “imperfections” in the jury trial—including flawed instructions to the jurors—and determined they were not severe enough to invalidate the jury’s October decision requiring BART to pay each of the six former workers between $1.2 million and $1.5 million.
Alsup denied BART’s post-trial motions to overturn the verdict and seek a new trial, saying that the agency failed to demonstrate that accommodating the employees’ religious objections would have posed an undue hardship.
— The Epoch Times
Hulking Trans Child Molester Repeatedly Sexually Assaulted Female Cellmate After Being Transferred to Women’s Prison
A former inmate at a Washington state women’s prison was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her hulking transgender cellmate — who was transferred to the prison after changing her gender identity, according to a shocking new lawsuit.
Mozzy Clark sued the state department of corrections in federal court last week for locking her in a cell with a 6-foot-4 convicted child molester who allegedly subjected her to months of stalking, threats of violence and sexual harassment and assault, according to the lawsuit.
The cellmate, Christopher Scott Williams, was convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl as a male, and was serving a separate sentence for domestic abuse.
Williams then petitioned to be recognized as female and be transferred to a women’s prison, according to the lawsuit. When the state granted the request and placed Williams in a cell with Clark, the latter’s life became a living nightmare. – New York Post
We hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the major news items you might have missed in this ever-escalating and ever-accelerating news cycle as the Information War continues to rage on around us.
As always, if you have any thoughts on these news items or the MANY others swirling in the digital ether, drop into the comments below to share them with your fellow Badlanders.
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2025 GBPH teed it up perfectly: "P.S. Boss just came in from the top rope. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry".
Winning Biggly! TrumpaMania will be televised Baby!!!
God Wins!
God Bless!!!
The whole NOLA attack stinks to high Heaven, but the walk-through of has alleged home was the icing on the cake. I noticed the reporter was careful to touch nothing, but just being there contaminates the scene with her DNA through breath droplets, shed skin cells, hair, and more.